State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan plans to open office abroad

The State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan (SOFAZ) plans to open a representative office abroad, said an article posted Mar.12 on the Financial Times website with reference to the head of the State Oil Fund Shahmar Movsumov.

The article said that SOFAZ is the world's 29th-largest sovereign wealth fund with a $37 billion pool of assets, and it owns real estate in London, Paris, Moscow and Seoul.

 “We have a map with flags in countries where we have investments - it's almost covered with flags,” Movsumov said. “That has happened in the past 10 years.”

SOFAZ expects to start investing in China imminently, having just received approval from the People's Bank of China for a 3 billion Chinese Yuan renminbi (nearly $500 million) quota from Beijing, Movsumov said. Also, SOFAZ is looking to expand in private equity by making an investment in a large western fund, said the article.

“This industry is completely new for Azerbaijan,” Movsumov said. “We have built a world class asset management company in a country without any legacy of asset management.”

The next step will be to open an office abroad, most likely in London, he said.

As of January 1, 2015, SOFAZ assets increased by 3.42 percent and hit $37.104 billion compared to early 2014 ($35.878 billion).

SOFAZ was established in 1999 with assets of $271 million.—0—